Custom installation: item selection?

Does Win 7 have a custom install choice, such as in '98 which allows one to select/deselect those items one wants to install or not? And if so, does anyone know of a list somewhere which items are okay to dismiss from installation? Once again,... Thanks!!!

***Now, I realize there is nLite that allegedly helps in this regard, but after I downloaded it, my AVG antivirus begged me to quarantine the application. Or did AVG just register a false positive?

Its been awhile since I've installed Windows 7 but I don't believe you have any choice similar to the ones in Windows 98. After the install completes, you can go to:
Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features on and off to get rid of anything you don't want.

Woohoo!!! Thank you, Joe! Since you mention it, I discovered that How to Geek http://www.howtogeek.com/124368/how-...rated-updates/ even sports a tutorial, and if they also promote it, there must be something worthwhile there. Looks like a lot is involved to learn how to do it, but machs nichts, I believe it to be all worth the effort. A million thank you's.

I've used nLite in the past to no ill effects. The last time I used it was to make an installation disk for XP rolling SP3 and my SATA drivers into it.

AV's don't like it because of a couple of the tools that it uses, and some that are downloaded in the package of other uses, like a key finder (similar to magic jellybean) and such.

I mess with the guts of Windows to a greater extent than nLite, though.

Create a fresh drive image before making system changes, in case you need to start over!

"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Savvy?"—Captain Jack Sparrow "When you're troubleshooting, start with the simple and proceed to the complex."—M.O. Johns "Experience is what you get when you're looking for something else."—Sir Thomas Robert Deware. Unleash Windows

The Following User Says Thank You to bbearren For This Useful Post:

I thank you for the insight, Bbearren. I was a bit baffled by why it seemed to enjoy such wide reputation if it were suspect. And silly me, with my brain spinning so much, I temporarily forgot that nLite is for XP.

The latest version of nLite will also work with Windows 7. I believe you will have to download WAIK from MS in order to use it, though.

Create a fresh drive image before making system changes, in case you need to start over!

"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Savvy?"—Captain Jack Sparrow "When you're troubleshooting, start with the simple and proceed to the complex."—M.O. Johns "Experience is what you get when you're looking for something else."—Sir Thomas Robert Deware. Unleash Windows

hello,
it's "vlite" v.1.2 that works on win se7en and you must use a couple of components that are contained in the w.a.i.k. but, it's not the w.a.i.k. for win se7en... instead of d/loading the 1 GB+ sized w.a.i.k. you can simply insert the 2 or 3 needed files into the installed vlite program files before ever starting vlite and be done with it. DUE NOTE, there are some caveats such as, you must remove only certain items, never do the auto install option (it breaks win se7en) and there are a few more. even with the limitations and being rather conservative with what i removed, the last 7x64 install disk i did went down to just over 1 GB in size. the place to learn about this is www.msfn.org - some have even figured out how to reduce the size of the winsxs folder (a major source of bloat)
i have found that trying the new install on a separate partition is better than trying it in a vm, sometimes you get different results in a vm. all of this is just from my experience... ymmv.

michael clyde

Last edited by mchldpy; 2013-01-24 at 14:16.

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